The Inside Story
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: The Impossibles are on the case when the city's water supply becomes contaminated
1. Dr Gesundheit

It was late one night at the Megatropolis Reservoir. It was were the city's water supply was stored. That night, an evil genius by the name of Dr. Verner Von Gesundheit was on top of the main dam of the reservoir. He pulled a vile out of his lab coat, uncorked it, and began pouring a strange blue liquid into it. He had several other viles of this blue liquid, and he began pouring it into every single dam in the area. Then he laughed.

"Dis completes phase vun of mein plan," he said. "Vonce der city of Megatrrrrrropolis learns der vater zupply ees unsafe, dey vill pay me millions!"

The next morning, the Impossibles were at the Secret Security Headquarters (SSHQ), having some adjustments made to the Impossi-Mobile. Their last assignment had caused the engine to blow up after a high speed chase.

"They sure don't make car parts like they used to, huh, Mike?" Fluid Man asked the SSHQ's chief mechanic, Mike Rogers.

"That's for sure," Mike responded. "Considerin' I was usin' parts from confiscated villian vehicles when I built this sucker. Bad guys have some weird stuff in their cars, I tell you."

As Mike was working on the car, Coil Man's guitar began beeping. That could only mean one thing.

"Big D," Coiley said, picking up his guitar. "What's the mission, chief?"

"Report to my office immediately, boys," Big D said. "It's an emergency."

"We'd better get going," Multi Man said. "Something's telling me this could be serious."

The Impossibles raced out of the SSHQ garage, and went directly to the office of the SSHQ chief, Big D.

"Boys, we have a situation of utmost urgency here," Big D said. He pressed a button on his desk, and the lights dimmed, a screen lowered, and a slide projector was activated.

"This is Dr. Verner Von Gesundheit," Big D explained. "One of our agents managed to capture some surveillance photos last night around the Megatropolis Reservoir."

"What's that he's pouring into the water, chief?" Coiley asked.

"I'm not sure," Big D said. "But we have gotten several reports of cases of gastroenteritis, cholera, and other various ailments caused by contaminants in water."

"Sort of gives new meaning to the phrase don't drink the water, huh, chief?" Fluey asked.

"Exactly," Big D said. "I want the three of you to investigate this."

"Yes sir!" the Impossibles shouted, saluting.

The Impossibles went back down to the garage in order to get their car. Luckily for them, Mike had finished it up.

"Perfect timin', guys," he said, shutting the hood. "Car's all ready for ya."

"Great, we don't have a moment to lose," Multi said, as he, Coiley, and Fluey climbed inside.

"What's the caper now?" Mike asked.

"We're after a Dr. Gesundheit," Coiley said. "The chief thinks he contaminated the Megatropolis water supply."

"Oooh, that can't be good," Mike said. "Good luck, guys."

"Thanks," Multi said, and the Impossibles took off in order to find the doctor.

"Rally ho!" they cried as they left the SSHQ.


	2. Getting In

The Impossibles drove up to the Megatropolis Reservoir, and saw Dr. Gesundheit taking samples of the water in tubes, and putting them in his lab coat.

"There he is," Coiley said. "Let's get him."

"We'd better be careful, though," Fluey said. "We don't want to get contaminated with whatever he's put in the water!"

"Right," Multi said.

The Impossibles converted to Impossi-Jet, and flew up to the mad doctor.

"Oh, hassenfeffer!" Dr. Gesundheit shouted. "Eet's der Impossibles. Vhy don't you meddink kids go meddle somevhere else? I've got important experrrrrimentations to do!"

"Forget it, doctor," Multi said. "We know what you're up to. You've poisoned the city's water supply."

"Dat's rrrrrright," Dr. Gesundheit said. "Und prrrrretty zoon, I'll contaminate all der vater in der vorld!"

"Not if we can help it!" Coiley shouted. "Rally ho!"

Coiley sprang forward, and punched Dr. Gesundheit right in the face. The doctor stumbled backwards, but then regained his composure, and took out a pistol.

"Rrrrrrally ho _dis_, you overgrrrrrrown bed schpring!" he shouted, pulling the trigger. Instead of bullets, a stream of water came shooting out of it. Coiley jumped to avoid it, considering he didn't know if the water was contaminated or not. He, nor Multi and Fluey, were taking any chances.

"Now, I must bid you auf vienerschnitzel," Dr. Gesundheit said, and he jumped down from the reservoir.

"After him!" Multi shouted, duplicating himself to get down to follow the doctor. Coiley and Fluey followed. But the doctor was nowhere to be found.

"How'd he get away so fast?" Fluey asked.

"He should be around here somewhere," Coiley said. "Let's split up and search for him."

"Right," Multi and Fluey said in unison.

"Rally ho!" the Impossibles shouted, and separated.

What they didn't know was that Dr. Gesundheit was closer than they realized. He had swallowed a miniaturizing compound that shrunk him down to size. He had borrowed it from the Sinister Speck, just in case the Impossibles showed up. He was now flying a small submarine through the air.

"I am so schmall, dey can't zee me!" he laughed. "Now to have zum fun."

At that time, the Impossibles regrouped back to the Impossi-Jet.

"Any sign of him?" Multi asked.

"None that I could see," Coiley said.

"Maybe we should see if the SSHQ has any files on this character," Fluey said. "Then we could plan our strategy from there."

"Good idea," Coiley said. The boys climbed into the jet and took off for the SSHQ building.

As they were going to the building, Fluey was talking to Big D on the TV screen in the Impossi-Jet, checking in.

"We're heading back to HQ, chief," he said. "Dr. Gesundheit disappeared on us, and we couldn't find him. We're coming back to check on some files on him."

"I'll have Phyllis get them for you," Big D said, referring to his personal secretary, Phyllis Dawson.

"In the meantime," Fluey continued. "You might want to get in touch with the health department or whoever you call in water related emergencies. Spread the word about the water being contaminated. We don't know how long it'll take us to capture Dr. Gesundheit chief, but . . . ."

Fluey was suddenly cut short, and he started coughing and gagging. He actually had to pull the Impossi-Jet over to the nearest building roof.

"Hey, Fluey, you okay?" Multi asked.

"Yeah," Fluey coughed. "I'm fine. I think I just swallowed a bug or something."

"Oh," Coiley said. "That's happened to my dad a million times. He can't go bike riding without swallowing at least one gnat. It's nothing to worry about. Besides, it's a good source of protein."

"Very funny," Fluey said, sarcastically, and he started the Impossi-Jet back up. They returned to the SSHQ without incident.

Little did the Impossibles know, there was a lot more to worry about than they thought. The bug that Fluey had apparently swallowed wasn't a bug at all. It was Dr. Gesundheit. He was driving his sub down Fluey's esophagus, and into his stomach. That was exactly where he wanted to be right now.

"Dis ees goot," he said. "I can easily brrrrreak up dose meddlink Impossibles from inzide here! Now all I have to do ees rrrrrrelease mein childrrrrren."

Dr. Gesundheit hit a button on his sub's control panel, and two torpedos flew out. They exploded, and out came a dozen or so creatures came out of them.

"Velcome to your new home, mein childrrrrren," Dr. Gesundheit said. "Your job ees to destrrrrroy dis body from der inzide, und den, ve vill destrrrrroy der other two Impossibles from der inzide, und den, vonce der Impossibles are finished, ve vill rule der vorld!"

Dr. Gesundheit and his "children" began laughing maniacally.

Back in the SSHQ offices, Big D's secretary, Phyllis, was giving the Impossibles the files on Dr. Gesundheit.

"There's not much to go on with this character," she said.

"Here's something," Fluey said, pulling a piece of paper out of the folder. "According to this, Dr. Gesundheit worked with the Sinister Speck on that miniaturizing compound of his."

"Here's something else," Multi said, looking over the report. "He's testing a theory of taking water-borne parasites and actually going inside the human body to unleash them."

"But that would be impossible," Phyllis commented. "Even the three of you wouldn't be able to pull it off, and if you three couldn't pull it off, then Dr. Gesundheit sure couldn't!"

"Don't make any sure bets on that, toots," Fluey said, suddenly. The others just looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Toots?!" Phyllis shouted, glaring at Fluey. "You better watch your mouth, young man!"

"Where did _that_ come from, Fluey?" Coiley asked.

"I don't know," Fluey said. "It just sorta . . . . slipped out."

"Well, we'd better figure out how to stop Dr. Gesundheit," Multi said. "If he worked on the Sinister Speck's miniaturizing compound, he probably shrank himself before we could catch him. The question is how do we find him now?"

"You vill never find Dr. Gesundheit," Fluey said, suddenly again, and this time, he sounded as if he was speaking with a German accent. "He has gotten you all fooled, you fools!"

"Huh?" Coiley asked. "Hey, Fluey, what's the matter with you?"

"Yeah, what's with the German dialect?" Phyllis asked.

"Seriously, I don't know," Fluey said. "It's like my mind has a mind of it's own!"

It was something like that. After Dr. Gesundheit had unleashed his parasites in Fluey's stomach, he drove his sub up to his brain. From there, he could see and hear everything that was going on outside. He also seemed to be controlling part of the brain, so his own comments were coming out of Fluey's mouth.

"Well, whatever the case is," Coiley said, "we'd better get back on the case."

"Right," Phyllis said, gathering up the papers from the files. However, when she took the piece from Fluey, she let out a scream, and dropped it.

"What's wrong?" Multi asked.

"The file's been slimed!" Phyllis shouted. "Fluey, I didn't know you could do that! I thought you could just go from solid to liquid. Why didn't you tell us to could go into a gelatinous state?"

"That's the thing," Fluey said. "I _can't_ go into a gelatinous state!"

"Something weird's going on here," Coiley said.

"Speaking of weird," Fluey said, suddenly leaning against Phyllis's desk. "I'm beginning to feel kinda weird."

"You don't look very well, Fluey," Multi commented. "As a matter of fact, you look like you're melting!"

"Yeah," Coiley commented. "Into a gelatinous pile of goo!"

"Eet von't last long," Fluey said, in Dr. Gesundheit's German accent. "Der oozing prrrrocess should schtop in about an hour or zo. Eet's just a rrrrrreaction because of der zuperpowers."

"What?!" Multi shouted.

"There he goes with that German accent again," Coiley said. "Who do you think you are, Fluey? Boris Badenov?"

"Boris Badenov was Russian, Coiley," Multi corrected.

"Boys, I think we have a situation here," Phyllis said. She immediately ran to her desk, and picked up her phone. "Big D, you might want to come out here. We may have a problem on our hands."

"May have a problem?" Fluey repeated. Then he groaned, and clutched his stomach. "I'd say we have a definite problem!"

Big D came out of the office almost immediately. He was about to ask what was going on, but it was apparent he didn't need to. He just turned to Phyllis, Multi, and Coiley.

"Alert Sector Seven immediately," he said. "Send Dr. Johnson and Dr. Phelps down there. Lock all the doors and windows. Let no one enter, or exit the building. Follow all lockdown procedures."

"Lockdown?" Multi repeated.

"Sector Seven?" Coiley asked. "Isn't that the infirmary?"

"Phyllis, get Bradley, Wilkins, and Sayer up here now," Big D said, ignoring Multi and Coiley for the moment.

"Yes sir," Phyllis said, and she went to her intercom. "Attention! Dr. Reginald Johnson and Dr. Isaac Phelps report to Sector Seven immediately. Agents Bradley, Wilkins, and Sayer report to Big D's office at once! Everyone else in Sector Seven standby."

Phyllis then pushed another button, which locked the front doors of the building, as well as the back doors, and all of the windows. They were only going into partial lockdown. The three agents Big D had sent for entered the office, wheeling a gurney. All three of them were wearing surgical masks and gloves.

"Men, get Agent Fluid into isolation immediately," Big D ordered.

"Isolation?" Multi asked.

"Is it serious, Big D?" Coiley asked.

"It's hard to tell now," Big D said. "We need to have Dr. Phelps look into this right away. But from the way it looks now, he might very well be contaminated."

Multi and Coiley looked at each other. They didn't like the sound of that at all.


	3. Micro Impossibles

About fifteen minutes later, Coiley and Multi joined Big D and Phyllis down in the infirmary. Fluey had an oxygen mask over his face, and he was hooked up to various machines. There was an IV going into one arm. That had a saline solution in it. Dr. Reginald Johnson, the SSHQ's chief inventor, had been called in, because he also knew a thing or two about chemistry. Dr. Isaac Phelps was the SSHQ's chief medical officer. Coiley, Multi, Big D, and Phyllis were watching everything from behind a large glass window. Anyone entering the area had to put on a surgical mask, and gloves. No one was taking chances as to whatever Fluey had contracted was contagious.

"What's the status out there, Phelps?" Big D asked over the intercom.

"Not well, I'm afraid," Dr. Phelps said. "Temperature is a hundred four point three, his pulse is weak, and his blood pressure is quite low. Not to mention this . . . . slime. I'm not quite sure what to make of _that._"

"Hey, chief, I think I've got a match here," Reggie said, entering the other room with a microscope.

"Let's see it," Big D said, looking into the microscope.

"I took a sample of the slime from Fluey directly when he was going into this gelatinous meltdown," Reggie explained. "I found traces of the same bacteria that St. Mercy sent over. No doubt about it, Fluey's definitely been contaminated by the same pollutants in the city's water supply."

"But what about the slime?" Multi asked. "Why did he go into that gelatinous meltdown?"

"A chemical reaction from the bacteria in the water mixed with his superpowers," Reggie said. "Since that chemistry class accident of yours, your genes are a bit out of whack. But the meltdown is the least of it."

"Chief, we have a bit of a situation over here," Dr. Phelps said, speaking into an intercom.

"What's the matter, Phelps?" Big D asked.

"There's an abnormally high level of parasitic bacteria in his system," Dr. Phelps said. "The infection is spreading rapidly, and it's destroying his body's defenses as we speak."

"Shouldn't Fluey's antibodies be fighting this?" Multi asked.

"They should, yes," Dr. Phelps said. "But apparently, some of these parasites are feeding on the white blood cells."

"That's disgusting," Phyllis groaned, making a face.

"It will only be a matter of time before the infection claims the vital organs," Dr. Phelps said. "Unfortunately, the antibiotics we've been administering aren't doing a thing."

"We've even tried some experimental antibiotics," Reggie explained. "But the parasites are just eating those like they're candy."

"What can we do?" Coiley asked.

"Well, I have an idea, but it could be risky," Reggie said. "The only way to help Fluey is for someone to go inside his body and destroy the parasites."

"That's impossible," Big D said.

"No it isn't," Multi said. "We'll do it. Right, Coiley?"

"Right," Coiley said, nodding.

"Are you boys sure about this?" Big D asked. "It could be extremely dangerous."

"We'll take the risks, chief," Coiley said. "Fluey's our best friend. We _have_ to go in there!"

"I know you guys can do the impossible, but how are you going to get into Fluey's body, anyway?" Phyllis asked.

"No problem," Reggie said. "Mike and I have been working on this for awhile. Follow me."

Big D, Phyllis, Coiley, and Multi followed Reggie out of the infirmary, and down to the SSHQ garage. Mike was there, working on one of the vehicles the SSHQ agents had confiscated from a criminal.

"Mike, we've got a crisis," Reggie said. "We need the sub and the ray."

"Well, I don't know about that," Mike said. "The ray's never been tested."

"It's about to," Multi said. "Whatever it does, it's going to be tested."

"All right," Mike said. "Follow me."

"What exactly does this ray do, Reg?" Coiley asked, as he and the others followed Mike down a corridor.

"Well, I started developing it about five years ago," Reggie said. "We had just gotten the files on Dr. Gesundheit, and I read about his theory of traveling inside a human body, so I thought of doing the same thing. But not to wreak havoc on someone's immune system. Truthfully, I developed the ray for just such an emergency like this one. Mike developed a submarine equipped with weapons to handle parasites and such. Trust me, you two, even though you can do the impossible, you won't be able to handle these parasites without some big guns."

"Wait, whoa, hold the phone," Mike said. "Two? What do you mean two? Aren't all three of 'em goin' to do this?"

"Uhh, well, that's the thing," Reggie said. "No. Only Multi and Coiley."

"Yeah, did we forget to mention we were going inside Fluey's body?" Coiley said.

"We'll explain later, Mike," Multi said. "We don't have much time."

Mike nodded, and opened a door. Inside the room was a vehicle reminiscent to the one from the movie _Fantastic Voyage_.

"Are you positive you boys want to do this?" Big D asked.

"Absolutely," Coiley said.

"So how is this going to work?" Phyllis asked.

"We'll have to move everything into the infirmary," Reggie said. "There isn't a moment to spare."

"At least the sub's not that big," Mike said shrugging.

Within minutes, everything was set up in the infirmary. Multi and Coiley were in the ship, seat belts securely fastened, and they were ready to roll.

"Ready to initiate launch?" Reggie asked.

"Affirmative," Multi said.

"Ready when you are," Coiley replied.

"You'll have to make this quick, boys," Dr. Phelps warned. "According to my calculations, you only have one hour to destroy the parasites."

"We'll be keeping an eye on you," Big D replied. "And we will be in contact through the radio on the ship."

"Check, Big D," Coiley said.

"Begin reduction sequence," Reggie said. Multi hit a few buttons on the console of the ship.

"Check," he said. The ship started, and began moving toward a large cylindrical object. That was the reduction chamber. A particle beam was going to be shot at the ship, which would shrink it. The chamber had a small opening on the other side, attached to a long tube. The tube led into a flask filled with some kind of clear liquid, though Multi and Coiley couldn't tell what it was.

"Five, four, three, two, one," Reggie counted down as the ship moved towards the ray. "Blast off!"

Reggie pushed the button that activated the beam. It hit the ship, and it shrank down to size, zoomed through the tube, and directly into the beaker. Phyllis took the beaker, and handed it to one of the infirmary personnel. He removed the oxygen mask from Fluey's face, and poured the contents of the beaker into his mouth, and down his throat, and then put the oxygen mask back in place. A dot illuminated on Dr. Phelps's computer screen, which showed a diagram of the human body. The dot was at the diagram's neck, and moving downward.

"Boys?" Big D asked, picking up a microphone. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Big D," Coiley said. "We're inside . . . . and it looks like we're in some kind of tube."

"Probably the esophagus," Reggie said. Within seconds, the dot on Dr. Phelps's computer screen reached the stomach.

"Okay, we've landed in the stomach," Coiley said.

"Where do we go from here, Reggie?" Multi asked.

"Head for the intestines," Reggie said. "You're going to have to work your way back up. Start looking for the parasites."

Multi put the ship into forward motion, and he and Coiley submerged. They soon found their target.

"Yikes, what in the world is that thing?!" Coiley shouted. "It looks like a worm on steroids!"

"That must be one of the parasites," Multi said. Then he picked up the radio. "Reg, we've located a parasite. How do we destroy it?"

"There's a laser equipped on the ship," Reggie said. "It should take care of it. I'll turn the radio over to Mike. He's the one who installed the laser on the sub."

"The first thing you need to do is hit the red button on the right panel," Mike said, taking the microphone from Reggie.

"There it is, Multi," Coiley said, pointing. Multi pushed the button, and something came up on a computer screen nearby. It was a radar. The blip indicated the parasite.

"Once you get the radar up, hit the yellow button directly underneath the red one," Mike continued. Multi hit the yellow one, and a crosshairs appeared on the screen.

"Okay, have you got the target in sight?" Mike asked.

"Yes," Coiley said.

"Okay, maneuver the ship to lock on target," Mike said.

"You heard the man, Multi," Coiley said. "You steer, and I'll let you know when we're locked on target."

"Roger wilco," Multi said, turning the ship toward the parasite. It didn't take much maneuvering before they were locked on target.

"We're locked on the target, Mike," Coiley said.

"Okay," Mike replied. "Hit the green button directly below the yellow one."

Multi hit the green button, and a laser beam flew out of the front of the ship. It blasted the parasite, who howled in agony, and then shriveled up to nothing.

"Now I know why they tell you to boil water when there's a possibility of contaminates," Multi said.

"Keep the radar up, fellas," Mike said. "It'll come in handy for trackin' down the parasites."

"Will do," Coiley said. "Multi, I'll keep my eye on the radar, while you drive."

"Got it," Multi said, putting the ship into gear.

"Rally ho!" they called out.


	4. Brain Drain

Coiley and Multi piloted their ship towards the liver. According to Reggie's research, the parasites were most likely to lay their eggs there. The whole idea of that made Coiley a bit sick to his stomach.

"Yeecchhh," he grimaced as he looked at the strange pods. "And my parents wondered why I failed biology."

"Lock on target, Coiley," Multi said. "We've got to destroy those pods before they hatch into parasites."

"Right," Coiley said, locking on target. "Fire one!"

Multi hit the button, and the laser beam shot out at the pod. Like the parasite he and Multi had found in Fluey's intestine, the egg also shriveled up to nothing.

"How are you boys doing in there?" Dr. Phelps asked through the radio.

"We're working on destroying parasite eggs," Multi said. "There's a lot of them in here."

"Yeah, these things get around, don't they?" Coiley said. "How's Fluey holding up?"

"Not very well," Dr. Phelps said. "You boys better hurry. You're down to forty-five minutes."

"I hope they hurry," Phyllis said. "I don't know if Fluey can last for forty-five minutes."

"They'll make it," Big D said. "The Impossibles have never let me down before, and they aren't about to start now."

"I wish I was as confident as you were, chief," Phyllis sighed.

Multi and Coiley were still blasting away at the eggs. Luckily for them, Fluey's antibodies were starting to come in, taking their turn in destroying the eggs.

"And another one bites the dust," Multi said, as he pushed the green button once more, destroying yet another parasite egg.

"At least we're getting some back up," Coiley said.

"Now that we're destroying the parasites, the white blood cells should be doing most of the clean up work," Multi said. He tried to move the ship forward, but it wouldn't budge.

"That's funny," Coiley said.

"I think I know what's wrong," Multi said, nervously. "Take a look out the windshield."

Coiley looked, and he saw that there were several white blood cells wrapping themselves around the ship.

"Uh oh," he said. "What's going on?!"

"The white blood cells must thing we're a virus or something," Multi said. "I think they're trying to get rid of us!"

"What do we do?"

"I hate to say it, but I think we might have to zap some of them to get out of here. We don't have a choice, Coiley."

"All right. Fire when ready, Multi."

Multi pushed the button, and fired at some of the white blood cells, taking great care not to destroy them completely. They dispersed, and let go of the ship. Then, Multi put the ship in gear, and continued.

Back outside, Dr. Phelps was monitoring the boys' progress on his computer.

"Where are they now, Dr. Phelps?" Phyllis asked.

"Looks like they're making their way up the esophagus," Dr. Phelps said, watching the blip on his computer move.

"They're making progress," Reggie commented. "If my calculations are correct, the boys should be making their way towards . . . . ."

"AAAAGGGHHHH!" Reggie was suddenly cut off by an ear shattering shriek of pain. Everyone turned, and looked at Fluey, who was groaning, and thrashing his head from side to side.

"What's wrong?" Phyllis asked. Dr. Phelps ran over and typed in something over on a computer that had been hooked up to monitor the parasite activity in Fluey's body.

"Oh my word," he said.

"What is it, Phelps?" Big D asked.

"The parasites are attacking his brain!" Dr. Phelps shouted. "Get the boys on the radio, quickly!"

"Multi, Coiley, come in!" Phyllis shouted into the radio. "It's an emergency! Can you hear me?"

Multi and Coiley heard her all right. But it seemed to be magnified, and not just through the radio. And it was loud!

"Yeouch!" Coiley shouted. Then he picked the microphone. "We hear you, Phyllis! Trouble is, I don't think we'll hear anything else for a week!"

"Where are you?" Phyllis asked.

"Judging by the echo of your voice," Multi said. "I'd say the ear."

"Yeah, and it's a regular ear-y canal," Coiley said. Multi groaned.

"Coiley, that was a terrible pun," he said.

"Well, somebody's got to crack the bad jokes in Fluey's absence," Coiley said with a shrug.

"Never mind, guys," Phyllis said. "Just get to the brain and fast. We have reason to believe the parasites are there."

"Got it!" Multi shouted.

"Head left," Coiley said, looking at a diagram on the computer screen.

"Check," Multi said, shifting the sub to the left. Then they reached an area filled with what looked like lights.

"This must be the brain," Coiley said. "And those lights must be Fluey's thoughts."

"I hope he doesn't get any bright ideas while we're in here," Multi said. Then it was Coiley's turn to groan.

"Oh, Multi!" he shouted. "That was worse than mine!"

"Sorry," Multi said, shrugging. "But as you said, somebody's got to crack the bad jokes in Fluey's absence."

"Uh oh! Parasites at two o' clock!"

"Let's get this show on the road!"

"Rally ho!" both boys yelled in unison, and they took off, firing at the parasites.

As Coiley and Multi were fighting off the parasites (and there were quite a few in there), Dr. Gesundheit was checking in on things around the rest of his body. But to his surprise, all of his "children" were gone.

"Vhat ees goink on here?!" he shouted. "Vhere are all mein childrrrren? Zumtink eesn't rrrrrrrright here . . . ."

Dr. Gesundheit began typing things on his onboard computer, and got something on his scanners. What he saw was another vessel, firing lasers at one of his parasites. He zoomed in for a closer look, and found Coiley and Multi inside the vessel.

"Ach du Leiber und Schtoller!" he shouted. "Eet's dose udder two impossible Impossibles! I must destrrrrrroy dem, before dey destrrrrroy all mein vork!"


	5. The Heart of the Matter

"And that's the last of them," Multi said, as he hit the button that zapped away the final parasite."

"Eet's not over until der fat lady zings, Impossibles!" a German accented voice said, over the radio.

"I know that voice," Coiley said. "It must be Dr. Gesundheit!"

"Corrrrrrect, Chubby," Dr. Gesundheit said. "Und I haff a prrrrropozition for you two."

"What's that, Dr. Gesundheit?" Multi asked.

"You two zurrrrrrender," Dr. Gesundheit said. "Or else I vill rrrrrrelease more of mein childrrrrren into your frrrrriend."

"You wouldn't dare!" Multi shouted.

"Oh, vouldn't I?" Dr. Gesundheit said. He laughed, and pushed a button on his control panel. A door opened up in the bottom of his sub, and unleashed a small worm, but it grew bigger and bigger.

"Jumpin' jukebox!" Coiley shouted. "That's the biggest parasite yet!"

"Cute, eesn't he, boys?" Dr. Gesundheit said. "I call him Bo. Bo, head for der chest, like a goot parasite. And den, vonce ve get to der heart, ve vill show dem vhy I call you Bo. Eet's short for Boa Constrrrrrictor!"

Dr. Gesundheit laughed maniacally, and drove his ship out of Fluey's brain, and down towards his chest.

"Boa constrictor?!" Coiley shouted. "Multi, you don't think . . . ."

"If he's going to Fluey's heart with that thing, I don't doubt it!" Multi shouted. He picked up the radio. "Come in, Big D! We've got a problem!"

"What's the matter, boys?" Big D asked.

"We've found the culprit," Coiley said. "Dr. Gesundheit was in Fluey's brain, and now he's heading for the chest with a giant parasite he refers to as Boa Constrictor."

"They're heading right for the heart of the matter, as it were," Multi said. "For a squeeze play."

"Heart of the matter . . . . . boa constrictor . . . . squeeze play . . . . ." Reggie said, thinking it over. Then he smacked his hand against his forehead.

"Great balls of fire!" he shouted. "You guys better follow him fast!"

"And be exceedingly cautious around the heart and lungs, boys," Dr. Phelps said. "You have to draw the parasite away from them before attempting to fire. If you hit Fluey's heart and lungs with the lasers . . . ."

"Yeah, we know," Multi said. "Come on, Coiley! Let's move!"

Multi shifted the sub into hyperdrive, and blasted off towards the chest. Dr. Gesundheit was already there, with Bo, who was wrapping himself around Fluey's heart.

"Don't sqveeze on it yet," Dr. Gesundheit said. "Dis ees just a leetle insurrrrrance against dose Impossibles, to make sure dey don't trrrrry anytink hasty before I get done vit dis body."

"Don't count on it, doc!" Coiley shouted over Dr. Gesundheit's radio.

"You schtupid boys," Dr. Gesundheit said. "I varned you! I varned you not to meddle in mein business! Now, your frrrrriend vill suffer!"

Bo then began squeezing, tighter and tighter. Fluey suddenly began screaming. Big D picked up the radio.

"What's going on, boys?" he asked.

"Dr. Gesundheit's got his parasite wrapped around Fluey's heart," Coiley said.

"And he's squeezing it," Multi said.

"Oh no!" Phyllis shouted.

"You'd better do something fast," Dr. Phelps said.

"I have an idea," Multi said. "But it'll be risky, and we have to do it in one shot."

"What is it, Multi?" Coiley asked.

"The parasite isn't fully wrapped around the heart. If we can hit it in it's head, it might release it, and come after us. We'll lead it away, and then we'll blast it when it's out of the way of the heart. But we'll have to be extremely careful."

"Right. One false move, and we could be putting Fluey's life in more danger than it's already in!"

Multi began steering the ship around, while Coiley kept his eye on the radar, trying to get that thing's head in the crossfire.

"Okay, Multi," he said. "We're locked on target!"

"Ready . . . ." Multi said.

"Aim . . . . ." Coiley said.

"FIRE!" they both shouted as Multi punched the button. The laser shot out, and hit the parasite right in it's head. It growled, and started to go after the sub, unwrapping itself in the process.

"We did it!" Coiley shouted.

"Come on," Multi said, driving the sub up Fluey's windpipe. "Let's lure it away from here!"

"After dem, Bo!" Dr. Gesundheit shouted. "Don't let dem ezcape! And schpeakink of ezcapes, eet's time I made mein!"

Dr. Gesundheit immediately steered his sub toward the lungs. Coiley picked it up on the radar.

"Multi, Dr. Gesundheit's still heading for the lungs!" he shouted, as Multi was blasting the large parasite with the ship's laser. It shriveled up to nothing.

"That's not a problem," Multi said. "We've just got to get to Fluey's nose."

"How will that get Dr. Gesundheit out of Fluey's lungs?"

"Trust me, Coiley. You may have failed biology, but I passed it with flying colors! Calling Big D. Come in, Big D!"

"What is it now, boys?" Big D asked.

"We're closing in on Dr. Gesundheit," Multi said. "We'll be out shortly."

"But Dr. Gesundheit's in the lungs," Dr. Phelps said, looking at the diagram on his computer. "And you two are in the nose. How can you be closing in?"

"Oooh, this is _so_ disgusting!" Phyllis grimaced.

"Don't worry," Multi said. "I know exactly what I'm doing. All we have to do is make Fluey sneeze. You'd better take the oxygen mask off of him, though."

Big D, Phyllis, Mike, Reggie, and Dr. Phelps all glanced at each other. They had no idea what in the world Multi was up to. But as long as he knew what he was doing, they weren't concerned. Well, not too much, anyway. Dr. Phelps walked over to Fluey and removed the oxygen mask. Then, he hit a button, and Fluey was raised into a sitting position.

"You're good to go, Multi," he said, over the radio.

Multi flipped a couple of switches inside the sub, and pushed some of the buttons. Then he turned on the retro rockets, but he kept the sub right where it was. The others waited outside for something to happen.

"I hope he knows what he's doing in there," Reggie said. Luckily, they were about to get results from Multi's plan.

"Ah-ah-achoo!" Fluey sneezed, and suddenly, Dr. Gesundheit felt himself being launched out of the lungs.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Vhat der . . . . . oh no . . . . YEEEEAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHH!"

"It's working!" Multi shouted, revving up the engine a little more. "Just one more sneeze and we're out of here!"

"Fasten your seatbelts," Coiley said.

"Ah-ah-ah-achoo!" Fluey sneezed again, and this time, Coiley, Multi, and Dr. Gesundheit were launched out of his body, via mouth. Reggie managed to catch their subs in a glass.

"I got 'em!" he shouted.

"Gezernerblatz," Dr. Gesundheit said, dazedly.

"Come on, let's get 'em back to normal size," Mike said as he took the glass from Reggie, and poured the two ships onto a small circle on the floor. Then he took a couple of steps back. Reggie fired up his ray, and the beam hit both subs, restoring them to their regular height. Multi and Coiley jumped out.

"Another mission accomplished," Coiley said.

"How's Fluey?" Multi asked.

"He should be coming around any minute now," Dr. Phelps said. Fluey groaned, and started to sit up, holding his hand to his head.

"Oooh, what hit me?" he asked.

"Dr. Gesundheit and his water borne parasites," Coiley said. "Luckily, we were able follow him inside your body and get rid of them."

"You guys went inside my body?" Fluey asked. "Man, that is be_yond_ impossible! But what happened to Dr. Gesundheit?"

The entire group heard evil laughter, and turned to look for the source. There was Dr. Gesundheit, running down a corridor.

"You vill never catch me, Impossibles!" Dr. Gesundheit shouted. "I still have der cure for der vater zupply! Und I vill never give it to you, unless I get der millions of dollars! Ah ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"After him, fellas!" Fluey shouted. He started to get up, but he still felt a little dizzy. Dr. Phelps stopped him.

"Oh no you don't," he said. "You're staying right where you are for the time being."

"Don't worry, Fluey, we'll handle it," Coiley said.

"Yeah, he can't get out of the building," Multi said. "We had to go into lockdown."

"You guys better hurry," Fluey said. "He's getting away!"

"Rally ho!" both Multi and Coiley shouted, and they raced out of the infirmary.

In the meantime, Dr. Gesundheit was running all over the place, trying to find a way out of the building. All the doors in the main lobby had been locked, and all of the windows were locked, too.

"Dis ees rrrrridiculous!" he shouted. "How ees an evil genius zuppozed to ezcape from der buildink?!"

"You can't!" Coiley shouted, bouncing over to the doctor. Dr. Gesundheit pulled out his water pistol.

"Don't move, Coil Man!" he shouted. "Dere's parasites in dis pistol! One schpritz, and you'll be infected!"

"I don't think so, Dr. Gesundheit!" Coiley shouted, stretching one of his arms forward, and grabbing the pistol. "Stick 'em up, doctor!"

"Oh Reddenbocker!" Dr. Gesundheit shouted in frustration. "I'm leavink! Exit, schtage gone even!"

"Going somewhere, Doctor?" Multi asked, duplicating himself to surround Dr. Gesundheit.

"Oh nein, oh nein, oh nein!" Dr. Gesundheit moaned. "Nein, nein, nein! Now I know vhy dey call you der Impossibles. You are just plain im_poss_ible!"

"You'd better believe it, doc," Coiley said. "Surrender and give us the cure, or we just might contaminate _you_!"

"You vouldn't!" Dr. Gesundheit said. "You Impossibles vouldn't schtoop _dat_ low!"

"Normally, we wouldn't," Multi said. "But after what you've put our best friend through, we just might!"

"So don't tempt us!" Coiley shouted. Dr. Gesundheit sighed.

"Ja, okay, I give up," he said. "I zurrrrrrendor. I'll give you der cure and go dirrrrrectly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect too hundrrrrrred dollars. Goot grrrrrrief."

Dr. Gesundheit handed over his cure, and the formula for it, since they were going to need a lot of it. Then, he was taken to jail. Fluey was transported to St. Mercy Hospital, just for observation purposes. He still had a slight fever, and wasn't fully recovered. Reggie and Dr. Phelps mixed up more of Dr. Gesundheit's cure in order to administer it to the other patients that had been contaminated by Dr. Gesundheit's poison.

"Everything should be back to normal soon," Big D said.

"Thanks to Multi and Coiley," Fluey said. "If it weren't for you guys, I would've had it!"

"We're just glad we were in time," Multi said.

"The good news is everyone is expected to make a full recovery," Dr. Phelps commented. "The bad news is the city's water supply may not go back to normal for quite awhile."

"I guess the water boiling advisory still remains in effect," Multi said.

"At least we won't have to worry about Dr. Gesundheit anymore," Coiley said.

The others agreed. Another case closed for the Impossibles.

The End


End file.
